Fire ’em. That’s what Speaker Mike Johnson recommends for any White House employee and other Biden administration employees who participate in the “Feds United for Peace” strike.
The inmates are running the asylum in the Biden administration. Nothing makes that more clear than the behavior exhibited since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war by staff in the White House. The pro-Hamas wing of the Democrat Party has plenty of people working in this administration. There is a strike planned on Tuesday – a Day of Mourning – to commemorate 100 days since the war began. Hundreds of Biden administration employees are expected to participate from two dozen federal agencies. Employees from the White House, the Pentagon, and the State Department are included. The organization is called “Feds Organized for Peace.”
White House employees and others in the Biden administration have participated in anti-Israel protests in front of the White House. Two members of the Biden administration have resigned over the U.S. support of Israel. Hundreds are expected to walk off the job Tuesday. So, this time around, House Republicans are calling for disciplinary action against those who participate.
Speaker Johnson weighed in.
“Any government worker who walks off the job to protest U.S. support for our ally Israel is ignoring their responsibility and abusing the trust of taxpayers,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in a statement.
Johnson said he and House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) will “be working together to ensure that each federal agency initiates appropriate disciplinary proceedings” against anyone who participates in Tuesday’s demonstration.
“They deserve to be fired,” Johnson said.
National Review makes the case that a strike by federal employees violates federal law. There is a statute that calls for punishing federal employees who “participates in a strike … against the Government of the United States.” It carries a fine or up to a year in prison. The punishment should reflect the violation of the public trust.
Any government worker who walks off the job to protest U.S. support for our ally Israel is ignoring their responsibility and abusing the trust of taxpayers. They deserve to be fired.
Oversight Chairman Comer and I will be working together to ensure that each federal agency… https://t.co/jcWa4bI3Db
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) January 14, 2024
The list of federal agencies includes all the major departments.
According to a list obtained by Al-Monitor, those include the Executive Office of the President, the National Security Agency, the Departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs as well as US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Naval Research Laboratory.
Others expected to join in the protest work for agencies including the Food and Drug Administration, the National Park Service, the Federal Aviation……..
I thought that Democrats were against government shutdowns. With hundreds of people expected to participate in the strike, what message does it send? It shows the weakness of President Biden and how little federal employees respect him. It is hard to imagine that federal employees from across the board feel empowered to disrupt the working of the federal government to deliver a political message. They are supposed to be working for all Americans.
The strike and attitude of the federal employees also goes to the bitter partisanship with which Joe Biden governs. President Unity never existed. He has divided the country from the beginning of his time a president. Biden demonizes Republicans who disagree with him.
What will Joe Biden do about the strike? Will he turn a blind eye and remain silent as he has with previous demonstrations outside the White House? Biden is at Camp David this morning and then he will travel for an event Tuesday. He isn’t scheduled to be back in the White House until sometime later in the day Tuesday. The problem is that Biden is cowed by pro-Hamas and pro Palestine Democrats. Muslim Democrats are threatening to pull their support for Biden. That includes the big block of Muslim voters in Michigan, a crucial swing state.
The walk out is a drastic departure from how top federal employees have shown their disapproval toward White House policy in the past, which was typically reserved to media leaks or public resignations over policy.
But the organizers, who have remained anonymous, say they are intent on changing direction from within, and they expect ‘easily hundreds’ of staffers to join their efforts on Tuesday.
Top Biden officials have tried to smooth things over with the malcontents. Secretary of State Blinken held a meeting with Arab American, Muslim and Jewish staffers. Organizers of the strike say that internal letters and memos over disagreements with the war are no longer enough.
One of the organizers of the strike told AI Monitor that they decided to launch the protest as it ‘grew out of a collective desire to do what we could to influence the Biden administration’s policy on this issue.’
‘What you’re seeing with this effort is something very unusual, and that is for dissent to be manifested via a physical act,’ they added.
The organizer said they had ‘unequivocally’ tried to raise their points internally, but feel the mass walkout is one of their last resorts.
‘It’s one thing to write letters from within, but when policy discussions and dissent cables yield no shift in policy — and in some views, a double down on that policy — then people feel they have no other option because they’re not being heard,’ they added.
While top federal staffers in years past have resigned in protest over disagreements, the organizer said they felt a ‘moral obligation and patriotic duty’ to change Biden’s approach from the inside.
Specific issues cited for the walkout also included America’s obstruction of ceasefire campaigns within the United Nations, and the bypassing of Congress to send weapons to Israel.
These people are putting their political activism over doing their jobs. They should do the honorable thing and resign, go work elsewhere. Maybe they should run for office themselves. Speaker Johnson is right – fire them all.